Creator Area
Sign in Creator Area

Practice Studio

Metallica - To Live Is To Die - Guitar Lesson

Sections · Loop · Speed · Metronome

Not in tune?

Select a Loop

Start of your loop
End of your loop

Speed Control

Speed
100%

Tools

BPM
Key E minor
Metallica - To Live Is To Die guitar lesson video
Guitar 365
Guitar 365 Top Contributor
YouTube: 1.6Msubs
Creator Page →
·
–50¢ 0 +50¢
· Tap to start

Your browser will ask for microphone permission.

Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
AI tone preset

AI-selected preset based on genre and era — adjust the knobs to taste.

Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
Listen on Spotify
Metallica Thrash Metal E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About To Live Is To Die

Few tracks in the Thrash Metal catalog demand this kind of patience from a guitarist. "To Live Is To Die" is a long, sprawling instrumental that moves through multiple distinct sections, shifting between clean arpeggiated passages, heavy riff-driven mid-sections, and slower, atmospheric builds. In E minor and E Standard tuning, the clean sections require careful right-hand control to keep arpeggios even and ringing without muddying the notes, while the heavier riffs demand tight palm muting and precise picking at 120 BPM. The dynamic range is what makes this genuinely tricky: you have to switch gears completely between soft and loud passages, and rushing any of those transitions kills the mood. Metallica wrote this as a tribute to bassist Cliff Burton, and that emotional weight is reflected in how measured and deliberate every part needs to feel. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop and slow down the cleaner arpeggio sections before bringing them up to tempo.

  • The clean arpeggio passages in E minor require careful finger placement and even picking to avoid muddying notes that need to ring clearly together.
  • Heavy riff sections rely on tight palm muting in E Standard tuning, where sloppy mute technique will quickly expose any inconsistency in your picking hand.
  • With multiple tempo and feel changes throughout the track, isolating each section with the Practice Toolbar is far more effective than running the whole piece from the top.

How to Play To Live Is To Die

Tuning: E Standard · Key: E minor · Tempo: 120 BPM

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 120 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Kirk Hammett's vintage 1959 'Greeny' Les Paul Standard delivers warmer, more dynamic PAF-style tones that contrast his EMG-equipped ESP guitars, adding organic sustain to his lead work. This guitar's traditional construction gives his solos a thicker, less compressed character than his signature models.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

While not Hammett's primary choice, the Les Paul Custom shares the Les Paul's warm PAF pickup character and thick body resonance, offering heavier players an alternative to Strat-style designs for achieving Metallica's crushing rhythm tones.

Gibson Explorer
Guitar

Gibson Explorer

James Hetfield's early Gibson Explorer established his signature angular shape and thick body tone, delivering the aggressive midrange attack essential to Metallica's crushing rhythm style before his ESP signature models became his primary tool.

Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
Amp

Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier

Kirk Hammett's Dual Rectifier heads provide the high-gain, midrange-forward aggression that lets his solos cut through Hetfield's scooped rhythm tone, creating definition and clarity in Metallica's dense wall of distortion.

EMG 81
Pickup

EMG 81

Hetfield's bridge EMG 81 delivers the hot, compressed output with tight low-end that defines Metallica's palm-muted riffs, the ceramic magnet and active preamp cutting through heavy arrangements with focused, aggressive attack.

EMG 60
Pickup

EMG 60

Both guitarists use the neck EMG 60 for warmer, more articulate rhythm tones and smoother lead voicings, balancing the 81's aggression with clearer note definition across Metallica's dense arrangements.

Recommended for You